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2015-16 American Junior Hockey Season
This is a list of 2015-16 ''' American Junior hockey seasons by league. League Changes *The Minnesota Junior Hockey League suspended operations when all but two members (one active (Rochester Ice Hawks joined the North American 3 Hockey League) and one inactive (Twin Cities Northern Lights) withdrew to join the USPHL Midwest Division. *The Midwest Junior Hockey League disbanded when all of the league members joined the USPHL Midwest Division. *After delaying the start of the league from 2014-15 to 2015-16 the Rocky Mountain Junior Hockey League commences play. *The Eastern Hockey League added an Elite Division which will serve as a feeder league to the main division which is being called the Premier Division. Interleague changes *The Wenatchee Wild transferred from the North American Hockey League to the British Columbia Hockey League. *The Soo Eagles transferred back to the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League from the North American Hockey League after having transferred from the NOJHL in 2012. The Eagles organization sold the franchise rights in the NAHL to the owners of the Middletown, New Jersey based New Jersey Junior Titans organization which had been previously operating in the Eastern Hockey League. *The former Michigan Warriors who had been located in Flint, Michigan were left homeless after USA Hockey purchased the former Compuware Arena in Plymouth, Michigan and moved the USA Hockey National Team Development Program to Plymouth from Ann Arbor, Michigan, which forced the Plymouth Whalers of the Ontario Hockey League to relocate to Flint where they became the Flint Firebirds. The arena management notified the Warriors ogranization that their lease was not being renewed prior to the announcement of the relocation of the Whalers to Flint. The organization had announced they were relocating to the Aviator Sports and Events Center in Brooklyn, New York as the Brooklyn Jr. Aviators; but the deal was held up and not completed. The arena in Brooklyn was host to a franchise in the USPHL's then Empire division (now USP3HL) which membership was already relocated to Rye, New York as the New York Dragons before the deal had collapsed. The Dragons franchise ended up withdrawing from the USP3HL before the season started. *The ownership of the Eastern Hockey League's Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Knights purchased the dormant Dawson Creek Rage franchise and established a team in the North American Hockey League. *The North American 3 Hockey League added the Rochester Ice Hawks (the lone remaining active team) from the defunct Minnesota Junior Hockey League '''For more changes within leagues; please see each league's season page listed below. Leagues USA Hockey Sanctioned Tier-I *2015-16 USHL Season USA Hockey Sanctioned Tier-II *2015-16 NAHL Season USA Hockey Sanctioned Tier-III *2015-16 EHL Season *2015-16 NA3EHL Season (league being absorbed into NA3HL for 2016-17) *2015-16 NA3HL Season *2015-16 MetJHL Season (league's last season; renamed NA3AHL for 2016-17) *2015-16 NorPac Season (league's last season; absorbed into USP3HL) *2015-16 RMJHL Season *2015-16 USPHL-Premier Season *2015-16 USPHL-Midwest Season (league's last (only) season; absorbed into USPHL-Elite and USP3HL) *2015-16 USPHL-Elite Season *2015-16 USP3HL Season AAU Sanctioned Leagues *2015-16 WSHL Season *2015-16 WUHL Season (league added 2 expansion teams according to one team's facebook page but league website has not been updated and league did not play) Canadian Junior Leagues with US-Based teams *2015-16 OHL Season (Major Junior) *2015-16 WHL Season (Major Junior) *2015-16 BCHL Season (Junior A) *2015-16 NOJHL Season (Junior A) *2015-16 OJHL Season (Junior A) *2015-16 SIJHL Season (Junior A) *2015-16 KIJHL Season (Junior B) *2015-16 GOJHL Season (Junior B) only American team (Buffalo Regals) ceased operations for 2015-16 season See Also *2016 USA Hockey Tier III Junior National Championship (event shelved for 2016 due to disagreement between leagues over tournament, return of tournament will be looked at for 2017) *2015-16 Canadian Junior Hockey Season Category:2016 in hockey